August 16, 2024

The IEEE RAS Quadruped Robot Challenge (QRC) will take place from October 14 to 18 during IROS 2024 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This is a key opportunity for Quadruped Robots to qualify for a spot in RoboCup Rescue for RoboCup 2025! For further information, please visit the event website.


July 22, 2024

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed to the success of RoboCup 2024. Your dedication, hard work, and support made this event truly remarkable.

To the organizers and volunteers, your tireless efforts behind the scenes ensured that everything ran smoothly. From the planning stages to the execution of the event, your commitment and attention to detail were evident in every aspect.
To the TEAMS, your enthusiasm and competitive spirit were the heart of RoboCup 2024. Your innovative designs and teamwork showcased the incredible potential of robotics !!!
Lastly, to the spectators and supporters, your presence and encouragement created an atmosphere of excitement and inspiration.
Thank you all for making RoboCup 2024 an unforgettable experience. We look forward to seeing you again next year for another incredible event.
If you’re interested in joining the organizing committee for Brazil 2025, please contact us.
RoboCup 2024
Organizing Committee

 July 15, 2024

Example Target for Labyrinth


July 1, 2024

Supplementary document for mapping and object detection format specifications

Formats for Mapping and Object Detection


June 4, 2024

Clarifications of rules and amendments. Please take a look at the updates.  Any questions please reach out.

2024-05-17_FAQ_Amendments


Congratulations! 2024 Qualified Teams!


March 1, 2024

TDP Link:

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rrl2024


 February 28, 2024

Qualified teams will be announced March 29, 2024

IMPORTANT:  If you need a VISA .. please request an invitational letter now. (https://2024.robocup.org/?page_id=2998)


February 9, 2024

Clarification of rules for scoring autonomous dexterity

    • Dexterity tasks can only be scored from inside the respective 1.2m dexterity zone. 
    • A robot is considered to be “inside” a zone if any part of the robot breaks the vertical planes defining the perimeter of the zone. 
    • 1: For 1x multiplier (teleoperation): 
        • Robot’s manipulator is controlled teleoperatively to complete the task.  
          • Regardless of how the robot enters the 1.2m dexterity zone or positions its base. 
      • 2: For 4x multiplier (manual base, manual designation): 
        • During the manipulation time, the robot’s manipulator is fully autonomous while inside the 1.2m dexterity zone.
          • Regardless of how the robot enters the 1.2m dexterity zone or positions its base.
          • Operator may teleoperate the manipulator, during manipulation time but outside the 1.2m dexterity zone, to designate targets. 
          • Operator may designate any manipulation tasks (location, height, type, etc.) from a map that the robot has built during the driving time. 
  • Fallback to (1): If the operator takes over manipulator control, they keep the 4x multiplier for tasks performed before they took over, and score at a 1x multiplier according to the rules for (1) for subsequent tasks in that dexterity zone or to prepare for moving to the next dexterity zone.
      • 3: For 8x multiplier: 
        • During the manipulation time, the robot starts from inside the end zone or the previous dexterity zone (where it may be teleoperated). 
        • The robot is fully autonomous in both driving and manipulation from inside the end zone or inside the previous dexterity zone. 
          • Operator may designate any manipulation tasks (location, height, type, etc.) from a map that the robot has built during the driving time. 
  • Fallback to (2): If the operator takes over any driving control, they keep the 8x multiplier for tasks performed before they took over. They must stow the arm and then score at a 4x multiplier according to the rules for (2) for subsequent tasks in that dexterity zone or to prepare for moving to the next dexterity zone.  
  • Fallback to (1): If the operator takes over manipulator control, they keep the 8x multiplier for tasks performed before they took over, and score at a 1x multiplier according to the rules for (1) for subsequent tasks in that dexterity zone or to prepare for moving to the next dexterity zone.  

November 29, 2023

2024 rules are released. Please let us know if there is something that is not clear.


October 31, 2023

Important dates 2024:

January 31 – Submit your TEAM PARTICIPATION FORM(TPF) (Mandatory use for all teams). We will not accept your TDP if you do not fill out the TPF. You do not have to be 100% committed in attending , this is for planning purposes.

March 1 – TDP’s are due. We will use EasyChair for your submissions of the Team Description Papers (TPDs). Please follow this https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rrl2024

  • Most teams will need to include videos of their robot doing tests from at least different 2 suites. Format for title: RRL2023_TeamName_Countr
  • Person registering in EasyChair will be our main contact.
  • Updated Template:  RoboCupRescue_TDP_2024
  • Please include a link to your qualification videos in your TPD.
  • There will be a best TDP award. You may update your TDP for the best TDP award at any time up until June 1st.

October 31, 2023

Due Nov 7, 2023 – Comments and Suggestions for update of Mission statement. Please send comments and suggestions to: RobocupRescueGroup@googlegroups.com

Proposed Mission Statement:

The RRL brings together international researchers working on innovative smart robotics technologies to assist emergency responders operating in complex, hazardous environments.

It inspires innovations addressing the needs of responders in a wide spectrum of mission requirements involving mobility, sensory perception, planning, mapping, manipulation, assistive behaviors and operator interfaces and their integration in a holistic manner.

Annual competitions and additional activities are fostering exchange, cooperation, demonstration and evaluation of novel, and best-in-class solutions.

Road Map


October 23, 2023

Hello RoboCup Team Leaders!

We will be hosting a team leader meeting on Oct 31, 2023 at 7:00AM EDT(Washington DC). Please plan to attend. It will be recorded for those who can not make the meeting. We will send out information to review before the meeting. Here is a YouTube video to review as well: https://youtu.be/8aIKPYCxwPs

Proposed Agenda:

  • Roadmap: Oskar von Stryk – 10min presentation / 10 min Discussion
  • Rules: Adam Jacoff – 10 min presentation / 10 min Discussion
  • Tech challenge: Martin Oehler 5 min (+ few min discussion)
  • Summer school: Raymond Sheh 5 min.
  • Team discussion

Materials for the meeting: 

Road Map

Tech Challenge

If you did not receive the invite please contact us!


September 29, 2023

We finally can announce our newly appointed Committee Members! We look forward to working with you in the upcoming year!

Trustee

  •    Raymond Sheh, USA (1st Term) (Trustee 2022-2024)

Executive Committee

  • Ann Marie Virts, USA (1st Term) (Exec 2022 – 2024)
  • Stefan May, Germany (1st Term) (Exec 2022 – 2024)
  • Noritaka Sato, Japan (1st Term) (Exec 2023 – 2025) NEW

Technical Committee

  • Martin Oehler, Germany (1st Term) (TC 2020-2023)
  • Archer Losely, USA (1st Term) (TC 2022-2024)
  • Shotaro Kojima, Japan (1st Term) (TC 2023-2025) NEW
  • Emilo Platt, Mexico (1st Term) (TC 2023-2025)NEW
  • Tom Haus, USA (TC 2023-2025) NEW

Congratulations Teams!

Job well done!


June 13, 2023

June 6, 2023
TEAM LEADER MEETING!
We will have a team leader meeting to discuss rules and any other issues you may have on June 13 at 7am Eastern Time (US and Canada). Invites went to team leaders.

May 31, 202
Hello Teams!
2023 RoboCup Rescue Rules have been released! Any questions, please put them in the forum.

May 23, 2023
Hello Team Leaders:
Apparently there as been issues will teams receiving their registration codes and invitational letters. To streamline the process, please fill out the google form

Hello RoboCuppers

If your team qualified for RoboCup Rescue 2023, please fill out the google form asap. We need to be sure that we have up to date Team Leader information. The team leader will be the ONLY one receiving the registration code/password.

https://forms.gle/HfRyPChgGzEcypJz9


March 22, 2023

Congratulations !
2023 RoboCup Rescue Qualified Teams. See you in France!


March 15, 2023

As presented in our last team leader meeting, network degradation is introduced into the competition in an effort to get closer to the network connections in real scenarios. The vSTING module by the TU Dortmund will be used to emulate a wireless connection. Please download the slides for setup procedures of the vSTING module for testing in your lab.

2023-03-15_Teams-Announcement-vSting-Module.pdf


March 9, 2023

Sorry for the delay. You can watch/download the team leader meeting here.


March 4, 2023

Thank you for submitting your TDP! If you are not on this list, we did not receive your TDP. Please submit ASAP.
Team DYNAMICS_Austria
BRACU ALTER_Bangladesh
NuBot-Rescue_China
TBRMS_France
nonameteam_France – please see your email.
AutonOHM_Germany
Hector Darmstadt_Germany
ALeRT_Germany
Quix_Japan
NITRo_Japan
UpRobotics_Mexico
ROBIT_SouthKorea
BART LAB_Thailand
iRAP ROBOT_Thailand
ITU-RAKE_Turkey
BSM Robotics_USA
ATR Kent Team_USA
RatSBU_USA

March 3, 2023

Hello RoboCuppers!

As we discussed during the Team Leader Meeting and on the forum, we will be introducing the vSTING network interference generator into the competition this year. The way in which it is being introduced is still being determined so that it is fair to all teams, regardless of if they have seen it in the German Open for the past couple of years or if they first heard about it last week at the meeting. Please join the forum

In the meantime, the instructions to install it on your hardware have now been released. Please visit https://github.com/tudo-cni/vsting-sa to read the instructions and download it!

We will be hosting information sessions to assist with installing this software over the coming weeks, please stay tuned to this mailing list and forum for details.

We also want to hear of your experiences with getting this software working, things that worked well, things that didn’t, and so-on. Again please participate on the forum to provide your feedback.


February 23, 2023

Thank you for a very productive team leader meeting!

Zoom recording and chat can be found here

Slides are available here


February 15, 2023

Hello RoboCup Team Leaders!

Please join us for our first team meeting.

Date: February 23,2023 
Time: 7:00 am EST (Washington, D.C.)

Proposed Agenda:

  • Information on results from the poll to team leaders (max. 10 min.)
  • Status of action taken so far and plans for 2023 developed in our group
    o Discussions in the group (max. 10 min.)
    List of the members, summary of discussions
    o Rule evolutions planned for 2023 (see our meeting from
    2023-02-06) (max 15 min.)
    o Roadmap workshop in April (max. 5 min.)
  • Feedback from team leaders and discussion

Zoom Information: Please check your email for login information. 


February 12, 2023

Qualification Document has been released. RRL 2023 Draft Rules – Qualification

Reminder…Please kindly respond by no later than Feb. 14
We are looking forward to a great 2023 RoboCup Rescue. Several months ago, you were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding your thoughts and concerns regarding the league. The Trustees, Executive, Technical, Organization Committee took the suggestions very seriously and have had several meetings to discuss.
We would like to organize the first of several online discussions with team leaders. The tentative agenda:
  • Information on results from the poll to team leaders
  • Status of action taken so far and plans for 2023 developed in our group
  • Feedback from team leaders and discussion
Please fill out the doodle poll: https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/bk2VKgva to select the day and time that works best for you!
Please kindly respond by no later than Feb. 14
Have a great day.
– The RoboCup Committee

December 22

Happy Holidays RoboCuppers!

2023 Important dates:

January 31 – Submit your TEAM PARTICIPATION FORM(TPF)(Mandatory use for all teams). We will not accept your TDP if you do not fill out the TPF. You do not have to be 100% committed in attending , this is for planning purposes.

March 3 – TDP’s are due. We will use EasyChair for your submissions of the Team Description Papers (TPDs). Please follow this link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rrl2023

  • Most teams will need to include videos of their robot doing tests from at least different 2 suites. (See qualification document – To be released soon)
  • Format for title: RRL2023_TeamName_Countr
  • Person registering in EasyChair will be our main contact.
  • Updated 2023 TDP Template
  • Please include a link to your qualification videos in your TPD.
  • There will be a best TDP award. You may update your TDP for the best TDP award at any time up until June 1st.

TDB  – 1st round of Qualified Teams will be announced


November 15

Hello RoboCuppers:
Thank you to all who responded to our surveys questions. We take your concerns for the league very seriously and will be addressing them in the upcoming weeks. The surveys will stay open for you to provide ideas and suggestions.
New tests can be submitted here:
General :

November 6, 2022
The Committee extended the deadline to November 10, this will allow teams more time to submit their forms.  The Committee will be meeting on November 14 to review the input from the teams.
Of course, even if the teams miss this deadline, you can propose new ideas at any time.
New tests can be submitted here: https://forms.gle/8NMmvc4RfbGcHzpo8

October 26, 2022
The RoboCupRescue Robot League invites you to contribute to the advancement of rules by proposing new tests for future years! We fully realize that the current roster of tests may not cater to all relevant research goals of your team, so if you feel that your research interest isn’t yet well represented, now is your chance to change that!
Please use this form (https://forms.gle/8NMmvc4RfbGcHzpo8) to tell us what kind of rule advancement by new tests you think should be incorporated and if you have the resources to take the lead on developing the corresponding rules, procedures, and apparatuses. No prior experience in test designing is needed – as long as you have expertise in the capability that is being tested, we’ll help you through the process!
You’re also welcome to take one or more of the following ideas that have been proposed in the past and, in some cases have had some development but need further work to bring forward. Feel free to propose based on one of these if they interest you!
  • Robot behavior in poor wireless communication environments (e.g. a test method involving performing a task while communication is filtered through apparatus that degrades the channel). Note that the apparatus should be cheap and easy enough for all teams to reasonably replicate.
  • Tests more relevant to pushing (semi-)autonomous mobility and navigation in moderately complex terrain. The pallet terrain is just a start!
  • Tests more relevant to pushing (semi-)autonomous manipulator dexterity – getting the manipulator close without hitting things for instance.
  • Ways of incorporating more formal human factors and usability metrics into scoring.
  • Ways of incorporating more mission integration and logistical readiness factors into scoring
Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns via email.
Please forward to anyone who may have an interest in development test methods.

April 13, 2022
Updated Qualified Teams

March 24,2022
Hello Teams:
If you submitted a TDP and you are not on the list, you should have received an email (via easychair) regarding why. If you did not receive an email please contact us.

March 10, 2022
Hello Teams:
We have released drafts of the first sections of the rulebook for 2022! Many things have changed as we seek to maintain flexibility so that as many teams as possible may participate.
The first sections of the rulebook cover Qualification and Competition Logistics, Maneuvering, Mobility, and Dexterity and can be downloaded from the new 2022 Rules page. Please send comments to rescue.robot.league@nist.gov by the 21st of March.
We will be releasing additional sections covering Search and Inspect, Exploration and Mapping, Outdoor Carrybot, Aerials, and Construction Guide shortly.

March 2

Hello Teams:
Please include a link to your qualification videos in your TPD.

February 28, 2022

Hello Teams:

First round of qualified teams will be announced on March 23.  Please keeping checking this page and forum for updates. As to date,  we do not have any additional information regarding logistics (registration, hotel, etc.) for the event. Please check https://2022.robocup.org/for updates.


February 8, 2022

Hello Teams:

Please note the change in date for the submission of the TDP. The new date is March 4. If you have not submitted your TPF, please do so now!

There are 2 documents that you need to download:


January 24, 2022

Hello Teams:
The RoboCup 2022 Local Organizing Committee in Thailand is holding an Online Pre-RoboCup event later this week! We’ll be explaining the different leagues, talking about motivations and rules, showing some highlights from past years (including last year’s online event), and providing an opportunity for QnA.
The Rescue Robot League session will be held from 7pm to 8pm on Friday 28th of January, Bangkok time(UTC+07:00). See the attached schedule for the times of other leagues, and the opening and closing ceremonies. Register to attend by scanning the QR code on the attached poster or going to https://bit.ly/RegisterPreRoboCup ! Also a reminder, please fill out the survey at https://forms.gle/Y2d2xH34fTuZUAQe7 .

January 18, 2022

Hello Teams:

February 25 – TDP’s are due. We will use EasyChair for your submissions of the Team Description Papers (TPDs). Please follow this link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rrl2022

  • Format for title: RRL2022_TeamName_Country
  • Person registering in EasyChair will be our main contact.
  • Updated 2022 Template

Note: The executive committee is still discussing video qualification submissions. Please be aware this may be a requirement for RoboCup Rescue.


January 17, 2022

Hello RoboCuppers:

We would like to invite you to complete the participation surveyfor RoboCup 2022, Bangkok, Thailand. This survey aims to explore the possible challenges and requirements of participants in the event, which will be held in 11-17 July 2022 at Bangkok, Thailand. If you unable to reach the google survey, please download/complete excel sheet and email the form to April Foster by January 29, 2022.

According to the covid-19 pandemic situation, Thailand is gearing up for a return to normalcy by easing some travel restrictions and quarantine requirements and allowing normal tourists to enter the country. In addition, the government has now introduced sandbox programs allowing fully vaccinated travelers from 63 low-risk countries to enter the country without quarantine. For more specific information on situation and arrival requirements, please kindly visit our website on https://2022.robocup.org/.

In addition to the participation survey, our league also requires a Team Participation Form (TPF) to be completed.

We appreciate the time you have taken to complete the participation survey and the Team Participation Form for RoboCup 2022, Bangkok, Thailand. We are hoping and looking forward to seeing you at the event.

The deadline for BOTH forms is January 31, 2022.

RoboCup 2022 Organizing Committee


January 5

Attention 2021 Teams:
We need photos of your robot performing tasks during the virtual event 2021. They may be used as part of a collage for 2021 Symposium Proceedings cover.
Please forward to rescue.robot.league@nist.gov

January 3, 2022

Happy New Year!

Prospective/qualified teams should make sure they’re subscribed to the RoboCup worldwide mailing list (https://lists.robocup.org/listinfo/robocup-worldwide). It was announced last month that a  survey will be sent out  through the mailing list around January 15th, to check in with teams about their plans for participation. There should be more concrete information available after that survey.
More information regarding our league (ie rules for 2022, TDP’s etc) will be forth coming in the next several weeks.
November 9, 2021

What an extraordinary year, all of you did really well to overcome the challenges of this year, regardless of your performance or even if you fielded a robot. Congratulations to everyone who participated, regardless of if you were able to reach the final, or even able to submit the videos you wanted to. The pandemic has affected teams differently so the playing field is particularly uneven this year. We definitely recognize the incredible effort all of you have gone to in order to continue your RoboCup activities.

In recognition of the fact that the pandemic created a very un-level playing field this year, we only allocated Best-in-Class awards.

Congratulations to all of these teams!

Major Rescue:
Best in Class Dexterity : Hector Darmstadt – DRZ
Best in Class Autonomous Mobility : SHINOBI
Best in Class Search and Inspect : SHINOBI
Best in Class Exploration & Mapping : Hector Darmstadt
Best in Class Exploration & Mapping : NuBot-rescue
Aerial Operator : NITro
60 cm Scale : S.A.R.T.

RMRC:
Open Source and Innovation Award : S.A.R.T.
Dexterity : iHammerGo!
Sensor Test : Mechatronics Rescue Team
Mobility/Maneuvering : S.A.R.T.
Exploration/Mobile Sensing : S.A.R.T.
Video Presentation : S.A.R.T.

We encourage you to have a look at the various teams’ performances! Highlight videos are available here.

We now look forward to RoboCup 2022, to be held early summer in Bangkok, Thailand! We hope that circumstances will be such that we can safely gather and compete in person again and we also now have the procedures and infrastructure to keep the community together and to compete even if some, or all, of the competition needs to happen in a distributed manner.

In December, we will be providing more details of how we plan to arrange RoboCup 2022, and the process for qualifying and competing. Please keep an eye on the forum for further details.

– The RoboCupRescue Robot League Committee


February 1, 2021

Hello All!

As you’ve probably seen if you’re subscribed to RoboCup Worldwide, Peter Stone has announced that RoboCup 2021 will be completely virtual. The RoboCupRescue Robot League has been planning for this eventuality and we would like to present our plan to conduct RoboCupRescue in a completely remote fashion.

We will have more details about the specifics shortly, including the launch of a new online forum where we can discuss the further development of rules and procedures that will be necessary, so stay tuned!

Here’s a high level summary of how we will run this year.

This year we have a unique opportunity to modify how we conduct our league to involve even more researchers, add statistical significance to our evaluations, and advertise more widely the state-of-the-science that RoboCupRescue is contributing.

Although, this years coronavirus pandemic makes these changes essential, we plan to turn the necessity of remote collaborations into a real improvement in the league going forward. This can be our new model for global outreach and a more rigorous qualification process for future, more normal, competition years.

These two key upgrades will lower the barrier of entry for new smaller teams and use a distributed model of Preliminaries to determine the Best-In-Class robots in each of our categories for Mobility, Dexterity, Exploration and Mapping:

  • Focus team robot development and demonstration on the smallest, easiest tests to fabricate, and cheapest set of tests that are on the critical path toward operationally significant. This means as many teams as possible, including those who could not normally travel to the competition, to build the apparatuses and participate. In addition to more academic teams, we hope that this also enables more makerspaces and responder organizations to field teams.
  • Enable crowd-sourced scoring of uncut trial videos by all participating teams so they learn from each other’s implementations and verify each other’s scores. The tests are already compatible with video scoring. We did this for the DARPA Robotics Challenge during qualifications and it worked well. We would add requirements for statistical significance (e.g. requiring 10x 20 minute runs in a particular apparatus, with a particular configuration, with uncut video showing the run as well as details of the apparatus and robot), over the course of an extended time (1 or 2 months leading up to the competition).
  • Remote Proctoring: The top teams with live teleconference trials with members of the Organizing Committee. This will re-evaluate the systems to extend whatever number of trials we required to get to this point.
  • Test Facilities: There are a number of test facilities around the world that host the tests. Emergency responder organizations too. They can potentially accommodate visiting teams and proctor them in the tests for locations and at times when this is safe. This is good for teams that maybe cannot fabricate the tests themselves or don’t feel confident conducting trials.
  • Best-In-Class Award Certificates can be given out by RoboCup to any team that exceeds a set threshold across ALL the tests in the category as shown in our typical radar charts. We’ll have such extensive statistical significance for each test across more teams performing more trials that we’ll be able to confidently identify the normalized scoring thresholds for levels of performance, such as Gold, Silver, or Bronze.

Of course there are still many additional updates to the rules and additional procedures that will be necessary to make such a competition a success. We will be providing more updates shortly!

Cheers!

– The RoboCupRescue Robot League committee


January 7, 2021

Happy New Year!

RoboCupRescue Robot League and RoboCup Federation are working to organize RoboCup 2021 in a way that will allow us to have a vibrant, collaborative RoboCupRescue competition, within the current climate of international movement and gathering restrictions. We will also be using this year as an opportunity to implement some new ideas for a more inclusive RoboCupRescue, allowing even more teams and organizations to join us and push the state-of-the-science forward together.

We’ll have further news for you shortly.


March 27, 2020

Dear Robocuppers,

The RoboCup Federation and the University of Bordeaux, on behalf of the local organising committee, announce the postponement of the 24th edition of RoboCup in France to now be held from June 22 to 28, 2021.

The current situation linked to the COVID-19 led the organising committee to postpone the event for a year and thus make it possible to host the biggest robotics and artificial intelligence competition in the best possible conditions in France. The joint events planned for this occasion, NAIA, EduCamp, Farming, Perseverons conference and the GDR robotics workshop will be hosted next year too. All of the event’s partners, the 3,500 international RoboCupers, the 3,000 robots and the organising committee, will meet you in the summer of 2021, in Bordeaux, for the 24th edition of the RoboCup.

The RoboCup Federation will follow up shortly with further information for participants on what to expect in the coming year. The University of Bordeaux and the RoboCup Federation

Please monitor the main RoboCup Page for up to date information.